Thursday, May 4, 2017

VDP.Rheinhessen Invited to a Gala Dinner: The World Class Wines of the VDP.Rheinhessen Winemakers and the World Class Food of Philipp Stein (1 Star Michelin, Favorite), with Klaus Peter Keller, Philipp Wittmann, H.O.Spanier, Carolin Gillot-Spanier and Other Rheinhessen Stars

The Weinbörse, the annual spring trade fair of the VDP, the association of about 200 elite wine producers in Germany, took place on Sunday and Monday, 23 and 24 April 2017, in the Rheingoldhalle of Mainz. Worldwide, the Weinbörse is the only trade fair that focuses exclusively on fine German wines.

All (15) VDP winemakers from Rheinhessen took part in this year's Weinbörse. In the evening of the first day, they used the opportunity of the presence of sommeliers, chefs, retailers, importers, whole salers and media people from all over Germany and export countries to showcase VDP.Reinhessen at an extraordinary wine pairing dinner at the Laubenheimer Höhe. Philipp Stern, 1 star Michelin chef from the Favorite in Mainz (Laubenheimer Hof and Favorite have the same ownership), prepared the outsanding menu. It was an amazing experience of world class wines and world class food.

We were about 45 guests and the 15 host winemakers. Upon arrival, we were served a Westhofener Riesling 2012 of Weingut Wittmann in the Double Magnum and delicious amuses geules. We also had the opportunity to taste the VDP.Ortsweine of all the participating winemakers.

We then moved on to a seated dinner with VDP.Grosse Lage wines. VDP.Rheinhessen President Philipp Wittmann guided us through the very special evening.

During the dinner H.O. Spanier of Weingut Battenfeld-Spanier and Weingut Kühling-Gillot gave a little talk on the VDP classification and the particularities of the application in Rheinhessen. Daniel Deckers took us back to the days of Napoleon and talked about old wine maps of Rheinhessen, which had been discovered only recently. Also, during the dinner, between courses, we all got up to taste more VDP.Grosse Lage wines.

Picture: VDP.Rheinhessen Invites

Rheinhessen

Rheinhessen is the largest viticultural region in Germany. Every fourth bottle of German wine comes from Rheinhessen. About one third of Rheinhessen’s agricultural area is cultivated with vines, more than 26000 hectares. The high-yielder Mueller-Thurgau accounts for about 1/5 of the vineyards, and Silvaner and Dornfelder both for 1/10. Riesling is on the backburner. Unlike in other German wine regions, where monoculture of the vine is the norm, here the many rolling hills are host to a wide variety of crops grown alongside the grape. Rheinhessen also has the rather dubious honor of being considered the birthplace of Liebfraumilch.

At the same time, Rheinhessen is at this time among Germany’s most interesting wine regions. A lot is happening there. This is not only because of the terroir, but because of the people. There is an increasing group of young, ambitious and dynamic winemakers who want to produce and indeed do produce outstanding wine and not wines in large quantities. The top echelon of this group was present at this dinner, including Klaus Peter and Julia Keller, Philipp Wittmann, H.O. Spanier and Carolin Gillot-Spanier, to name a few.

Speech: H.O. Spanier about Recent Developments in the VDP.Rheinhessen Classification

In the first dinner speech, H.O. Spanier went through the development that led to today's 3-tier classification system: VDP.Gutswein, VDP.Ortswein and VDP.Grosse Lage. H.O. explained that in the future a VDP.Ortswein has to come from VDP.Erste Lage.

The other important development is the MAXIME HERKUNFT RHEINHESSEN innitiative, an association of about 60 VDP and Non-VDP members from Rheinhessen. Bascically, the VDP.Rheinhessen is branching out to talented winemakers that are not (yet) members of the VDP but are applying already the VDP rules and classification system in their winery.

Arguably, the MORSTEIN „Felix“ Spätburgunder GG 2013 Weingut Klaus Peter Keller was the most special wine of the evening. Wine & Water in Berlin offers it currently for Euro 522 including tax. The wine-searcher average price (excluding tax) of a bottle of MORSTEIN „Felix“ Spätburgunder GG 2013 Weingut Klaus Peter Keller is Euro 440 currently - clearyl a different price category than all other wines that were poured. The Felix is the (red) counterpart of the (white) G-Max.

The most exciting wine-pairing dinner ended with tea/ coffee and wonderful petits fours.

Picture: Petits Fours

Chef Philipp Stern

Philipp Stein hails from Rheinhessen. He is the Executive Chef at the Hotel/ Restaurant Favorite in Mainz, which has the same ownership as the Laubenheimer Höhe, where the VDP.Rheinhessen dinner took place, i.e. Christian Barth.

Pictures: Philipp Wittmann and Philipp Stein

Four Magazine: Philipp Stein, the youngest Michelin starred chef in Germany, received his first ever Michelin star at only 24 years in 2014. Simultaneously, Gault & Millau awarded him with 16 points and 2 toques. Young and exceptionally talented, Philipp is the Chef de Cuisine at Favorite Restaurant in Mainz.

Bringing a fresh approach to fine dining, his cooking style is simple and straight to the basics without fuss or frills. His family has owned a popular restaurant for five generations and coming from such a gastronomic family, Philipp is dedicated to his roots. The result is the fusion of classical bases laced with aromatic sauces. The influence of world renowned chefs that he has worked with, including Dieter Müller and Helmut Thieltges, is reflected in his dishes. His approach to cooking however is very much his own individual style.

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About Me

I live in the greater Washington DC (US) and Frankfurt am Main (Germany) areas and write about wine. I am a member of the FIJEV (International Federation of Wine and Spirits Journalists and Writers). Before starting to write about wine in 2009, I was for almost 30 years an economist at the International Monetary Fund (IMF). I am currently in Washington DC.